Just Putzing Around the Kitchen

Festive Cheese Rounds

The holidays are all about spending time with friends and family, and that means that means one thing — tons of dinner parties with guests galore. And, of course, feasting. My parents always throw two parties this time of year; one on Christmas Eve, another on Christmas itself. Each day, they get up at 7am…read more »

DIY Marzipan

On the third day of Christmas, my kitchen gives to you…homemade marzipan! More specifically, homemade marzipan tinted with Christmas colors and molded into adorable Christmas-themed shapes. Did you know that in Italy, marzipan served over Christmas is painted with fruit coloring and shaped to look like miniature fruit? That’s actually how I remember eating marzipan…read more »

Panettone Muffins

When I think of Christmas foods, a lot of things come to mind — sugar cookies, ham, egg nog, mulled cider, etc. But, one thing that really sticks out as being quintessentially Christmas-y is Panettone. When I was a kid, my parents would always buy a big loaf of Panettone a week or two before…read more »

Triple Delight Cookies

A lot of food bloggers have started their days-before-Christmas count downs already, and the result has been an explosion of posts featuring all kinds of different Christmas cookies, egg nog, gingerbread houses, and the like. Talk about peer pressure! I had originally wanted to wait until exactly 12 days before Christmas to start my list,…read more »

DIY Marshmallow Fondant Pumpkins

OK, so I kind of missed the boat on cute pumpkin-themed treats for the months of October and November. I mean, I made pumpkin spice cake a few weeks back, but that was it. It’s not that I don’t like pumpkin — I was just too much in denial about the changing of the seasons. Looking…read more »

Sugared Cranberries

So, Dan and I flew up to Massachusetts last week to spend Thanksgiving with his family. It was…super stressful. Not because of the family time — Dan’s family is awesome, and I love hanging out with them. No, the trip was stressful because of the traveling. Man, I hate traveling. Our flight was at 10:30am on…read more »

Crock Pot Chili

Hello, all! Hope your Thanksgiving was as fun-, food-, and family-filled as ours. Well, maybe not quite as much “fun” — I certainly hope nobody else was stuck at the airport for 9 hours on Turkey Day. But that’s a story for another day. Today I want to talk to you guys about Crock Pot Chili…read more »

Candied Pecans

You know what’s great about the week leading up to Thanksgiving? Nobody works. Most people take the whole week off to spend time with family, and the people who do stick around for work either take it easy or head home early. In my case, I’m home all the time anyway, but this week I…read more »

German Chocolate Cake Cookies

Dan and I had a wonderfully lazy day in yesterday. We woke up late, ate leftovers, sprawled on the couch, teased the cats, played video games (well, Dan did) and watched way too much TV. We didn’t do any work, we didn’t shower, and the only time we left the apartment was to step out…read more »

Sabayon with Fresh Berries

If you ask Dan how long we’ve been dating, his response is usually “too long.” He’s joking, of course (I think!), but we really have been dating for a long time. We met at a fraternity rush event when we were 19 years old, starting hanging out all the time, discovered a mutual love for dorky…read more »